How Much Brake Fluid Will I Need...

[radtech91]

I am going to be doing a brake bleeding on my 2009 Honda CR-V at 45,000 miles. This will be my first one and it looks very simple in the Honda CR-V Service (Shop) Manual and from all the Youtube videos. Not bad at all.

Anyhow the Honda Brake Fluid comes in 12oz bottles. How many do I need to get to be safe?

 

[toyota62]

Two 500ml bottles may need to do a complete flush.

 

[HTSS_TR]

You need 2-3 12oz bottles, ask them if they have quart bottle then all you need is 1 quart.

 

[The Critic]

3 bottles. I paid about $4.50/bottle wholesale. Either pressure bleed or do it manually with a block of wood under the pedal; do not vacuum bleed - you will get air and have to manually bleed anyway to finish the job.

 

[mechtech2]

Vacuum bleeding is great.
It's my first choice for ease, speed. minimal equipment needed, and a perfect job.
Qt bottles are nice. Get at least 2 small ones.
Honda needed special lubricating brake fluid because they and Toyota had bad seals/bad design.
Too bad for you.

 

[artbuc]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Vacuum bleeding is great.
It's my first choice for ease, speed. minimal equipment needed, and a perfect job.
Qt bottles are nice. Get at least 2 small ones.
Honda needed special lubricating brake fluid because they and Toyota had bad seals/bad design.
Too bad for you.


Don't think you have this one right. Toyota/Honda got a batch of bad MC seals which did experience some failures which had nothing to do with BF. The minute number of seal failures reported by Toyota occurred with FF, not aftermarket, BF.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Vacuum bleeding is great.
It's my first choice for ease, speed. minimal equipment needed, and a perfect job.
Qt bottles are nice. Get at least 2 small ones.
Honda needed special lubricating brake fluid because they and Toyota had bad seals/bad design.
Too bad for you.

I agree.

You and I are the few that like vacuum bleeding the brake system with the right tool. In my case the Mityvac 7201 works perfect.

 

[artificialist]

1 quart of fluid is all I ever end up needing in cars an mini suvs.

So buy 3 12oz bottles which is a little bit more than 1 quart.

 

[dubie2003]

I use 64oz total to ensure I have a complete bleed and top off. You probably only need 32oz but 64oz is just n case.

 

[Zako2]

On a compact and midsize car, 32ounce bottle is usually enough. If you're worried, buy one 32oz and one 12oz, then return the 12oz one if it goes unused.

 

[bigmike]

I used around 2.5 small bottles when I flushed the brake fluid on my 09 Accord. Remember the flushing procedure is recommended to be LF, RF, RR, LR.

 

[mechtech2]

Originally Posted By: artbuc
Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Vacuum bleeding is great.
It's my first choice for ease, speed. minimal equipment needed, and a perfect job.
Qt bottles are nice. Get at least 2 small ones.
Honda needed special lubricating brake fluid because they and Toyota had bad seals/bad design.
Too bad for you.


Don't think you have this one right. Toyota/Honda got a batch of bad MC seals which did experience some failures which had nothing to do with BF. The minute number of seal failures reported by Toyota occurred with FF, not aftermarket, BF.


They required a special friction modified fluid so their seals would last. It is a combination of design and material. There is a dealer/mfr. fix about this - the fluid was a band aid thing to get cars into production. They KNEW about this and spec'd a special fluid to deal with it.

 

[dubie2003]

Originally Posted By: bigmike
I used around 2.5 small bottles when I flushed the brake fluid on my 09 Accord. Remember the flushing procedure is recommended to be LF, RF, RR, LR.


This is not true of all vehicles. Yes, all Hondas may be the same but case differ based on model.

Example is that my frontier requires an x pattern.

 

[CharBaby]

I don't think that I have ever used more than a qt of brake fluid when doing a complete brake flush. And that was when removing the brake fluid from the master cylinder resivior first and refilling with NEW clean brake fluid prior to starting my flush. And I probably still had a bit of fluid remaining in the qt container/bottle.

 

[artbuc]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Originally Posted By: artbuc
Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Vacuum bleeding is great.
It's my first choice for ease, speed. minimal equipment needed, and a perfect job.
Qt bottles are nice. Get at least 2 small ones.
Honda needed special lubricating brake fluid because they and Toyota had bad seals/bad design.
Too bad for you.


Don't think you have this one right. Toyota/Honda got a batch of bad MC seals which did experience some failures which had nothing to do with BF. The minute number of seal failures reported by Toyota occurred with FF, not aftermarket, BF.


They required a special friction modified fluid so their seals would last. It is a combination of design and material. There is a dealer/mfr. fix about this - the fluid was a band aid thing to get cars into production. They KNEW about this and spec'd a special fluid to deal with it.


Are you saying that all Toyota & Honda BF sold today is the new fluid spec'd just to deal with a batch of bad seals? Did all dealers have to scrap their BF inventory when they had the recall back in 2005? My understanding is that the seals were defective and Honda/Toyota were trying to blame failures on faulty maintenance by owners. Problem is first failures were reported while the car still had FF BF which means it wasn't the BF 's fault.

 

[mechtech2]

This is so simple.
If no one in history needed special brake fluid, now a few cars do, and these cars have known problems with seals and design [recalls and upgrades ], we can conclude the mfr goofed up and covered up.

 

[bigmike]

Originally Posted By: dubie2003
Originally Posted By: bigmike
I used around 2.5 small bottles when I flushed the brake fluid on my 09 Accord. Remember the flushing procedure is recommended to be LF, RF, RR, LR.


This is not true of all vehicles. Yes, all Hondas may be the same but case differ based on model.

Example is that my frontier requires an x pattern.


I'm not 100% sure all Hondas are the same, but I haven't come across a different flushing procedure for any late model Honda, which is a bit odd ball from the "normal" procedure of LR, RR, RF, LF. Sounds like your Frontier is another case that is similar.